Well, not exactly. The nations top military man, Marine General Pace, didn't explicitly call Rumsfeld a coward, but he implied it, IMO. And the press conference revealed, perhaps for the first time publicly, the schism existing between career military and their civilian bosses.
[update: due to popular outcry i've amended the title to more accurately reflect the point i am trying to convey here. as for those who think i've gotten poor gen. pace in a big bad problem with my earlier implication that he "called" rummy a coward, let me remind them, gen. pace is one tough SOB who can take care of himself and defend, if need be, any statemens he's made... careful though, cause you'll note no one has asked him to defend it!]
Wapo has
this:
By WILLIAM C. MANN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 30, 2005; 3:19 AM
WASHINGTON -- The nation's top military man, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, said American troops in Iraq have a duty to intercede and stop abuse of prisoners by Iraqi security personnel.
When Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld contradicted Pace, the general stood firm.
Rumsfeld told the general he believed Pace meant to say the U.S. soldiers had to report the abuse, not stop it.
Pace stuck to his original statement.
"If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it," Pace told his civilian boss.
In other words: "Rumsfeld, you're a coward. We're fighting this war clean now. Get with it."
A lot of people don't understand the extent to which military planners have completely lost faith with their boss. But if you consider that Rumsfeld is the chief architect of the whole Iraqi occupation, you can probably understand their feelings.
It is unlikely that any secretary of defense has ever failed so miserably when planning a large scale invasion such as this. Time and time again, Sec. Rumsfeld rejected the experienced opinions of experts in favor of occupation strategy which consisted of a few bribes, a few oil contracts, and some guy named Chalabi.
Rumsfeld's latest snafu, calling "insurgents" by a new name, "enemies of the legitimate Iraqi government", shows how disconnected from reality this man truly is. Don't underestimate Gen. Pace either. He knows the law, and he'll uphold it, whether that means calling the Sec. of Defense a coward to his face, or not.